It was the Friday before the long 4th of July weekend and Jimmy T. planned to go boating for the weekend. And since he planned to leave right after work, he brought his boat with him.
Now, normally most people would pull their truck through the parking spaces so that the truck is parked in one space and the boat is parked in the parking space behind it. But not Jimmy T. He was concerned that someone might ding his truck or his boat so he parked his rig next to the curb, perpendicular across 6 parking spaces.
Now this was a problem. You see, his boat was about 3 feet from the communications manhole where I needed to work. And that manhole was full of vile, stinky water which needed to be pumped out before I could work down there. And rather than pumping that vile stinky water on to the grass, we had to pump that vile stinky water into the parking lot where Jimmy T.s boat was located.
In all fairness to Jimmy T. I decided to ask him to move his boat. But, being a good judge of character, I was pretty sure what his response would be. And, I was right. So, 10 minutes later, I popped the cover to the manhole and prepared to pump.
The pump that I used was powered by a small gas engine and it could discharge into a standard fire hose. But since I was so close to the parking lot, I chose not to dirty the hose. So, with a couple of pull of the rope, the motor started and the pump began doing it’s thing.
And as expected, the water was vile and stinky. It was so bad that I moved up wind of the stench. Unfortunately, Jimmy T.s boat was down stream of the spray. And while the water was not directly spraying on his boat, the light wind of the day carried the mist into the boat.
After I finished pumping out the manhole, I tossed several of those toilet scenting cakes into the manhole and closed the lid. The manhole would need to freshen for several days before I could work down there.
And Jimmy T.? Well I am sure he had a good holiday. After all, he wouldn’t have been bothered by mosquitoes as the flies would have been too thick.